Color Theory for Carnations (2010)
Petal as Screen (watch video)
A cumulation of kitschy florist tricks, alchemical color mixing and industrial automation along with a hint of 19th century scientific theatre.The carnation was one of the first flowers to be selectively cultivated by gardeners in the sixteenth century to produce novel, showy and domesticated varieties thus marking the beginning of amateur experimentation with genetic engineering.
The automata in this work is a color mixing “machine” that blends dyes through gravity flow and an injection system - primary and secondary colors enter the flowers, are sucked up through the stems in a process called transpiration and then leak over into a catch basin. Through a filtering process, the color is removed from the water to then cycle through the system again - perpetually. The changing colors of the petals are captured through a video lens that is continuously monitoring the flowers of the plants. An image is captured each moment (ten minute time lapse) and then projected into a dark space next to the installation (also creating a time-lapse document of the color change).
The petals of the flowers are transformed into an ever evolving “screen” and the room will be lit with the changing shades of the petals as they absorb different colored dyes. When the flowers have expired (after 2-3weeks) the video projection remains.